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| Left to Right: President Phil Clancy, District Governor David Cooke, Rhonda Butler, Kevin Butler, Rotarian Merle Bradshaw, District Governor Elect Alan Anderson. |
On Tuesday 15 Sept 2009 at the Rotary Club of Southern Mitchell meeting, Kevin Butler and his wife Rhonda were each presented with a Paul Harris Fellowship. The presentation of a Paul Harris Fellowship is Rotary’s way of recognising a substantial contribution to humanitarian programmes. The presentation to Kevin Butler was made by District Governor David Cooke, who was visiting the Club that evening and Rotarian Merle Bradshaw made the presentation to Rhonda Butler. Merle has for many months been working closely with Rhonda at Blaze Aid, amongst many things organising a roster for volunteer teams of cooks who prepare evening meals for the fencing volunteers.
As many would be aware, Kevin and Rhonda Butler are sheep farmers in Kilmore East and on the 7th February, 2009 fires started in land adjoining their property and then swept through some of their land, destroying fences. On 8th February, Kevin began re-fencing his land, with help from neighbours and friends. Rhonda’s immediate response to the help that they received with their fences was to declare “Now it is our turn to help others!”
Kevin and his wife Rhonda then took on the mammoth task of recruiting an army of volunteers and coordinating their work to remove burnt-out fencing and to rebuild boundary fences throughout the district. Thus, the now iconic ‘Blaze Aid’ was born. As requests for help flowed in, Kevin successfully achieved broad based awareness and material assistance from many quarters to help in the work.
For seven months now Kevin and Rhonda have made their home and shearing shed a home for Blaze Aid volunteers and the headquarters for the management of operations, ensuring that materials and equipment could be stored securely. All planning and publicity activities were also conducted from Kevin’s property, which served as the communications hub for ‘Blaze Aid’.
From the start, Rhonda’s hospitality and generosity of spirit was legendary, as she warmly welcomed all comers into her home and her kitchen. With an ever-growing overflow into their woolshed – feeding and accommodating a growing army of volunteers and managing the logistics of that daunting enterprise – Rhonda displayed extraordinary tenacity. By way of example, water had initially to be carried in buckets to the woolshed, where cooking facilities in those early days were quite primitive.
Thousands of volunteers donated their time and effort working with Blaze Aid. They came from all states of Australia and even from distant overseas countries, attracted by the siren call of Kevin and Rhonda’s great and compassionate work, which attracted world-wide publicity and was further publicised on a special Blaze Aid website.
The ‘Blaze Aid’ organisation did not simply mend fences - their efforts have gone well beyond that, extending to the provision of personal care and emotional support for the fire survivors. Perhaps its greatest achievement was providing ‘heart’ to fire-affected people, assisting them to rebuild their lives and encouraging them to take charge of their own recovery.
Kevin and Rhonda have never faltered from this cause. Kevin has expressed the hope that, with the cooperation of organisations like Rotary, his work may live on in various forms well into the future. Kevin and Rhonda’s wonderful example has established a generosity of spirit within our local community which will endure as a lasting legacy to him and to Rhonda.
This is truly an unselfish example, strongly in keeping with Rotary’s motto of ‘Service Above Self ’.
21 September 2009
Andrea Willis
(M) 0428 410041
Rotary Club of Southern Mitchell
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